Canadians in & around Eastbourne (Sussex) in WW2

[Michael Ockenden]

I am compiling a list of all Canadian units stationed in Eastbourne, Sussex during WW2 and would welcome the names of any such units known to members of this forum. However, does anyone know whether there are lists (in Ottawa or at the PRO in London) giving the location of all units at any one time? Such information would make my task infinitely more simple.

Mike

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

While visiting the UK back in '73 ,a Mr. Carl Lions of that regiment had me visit a family(can't recall the name now,but she was a pleasant little old lady) in Lewes while on my way to Eastbourne ,for the weekend.A Mr.Don Dickson also mentioned this area,being in the same unit.Hope this helps

[Michael Ockenden]

Thank you very much for your reply. In fact, the Black Watch is one unit which I am already in touch with. I am fortunate enough to have been sent entries from the War Diary about their time in Eastbourne. I shall be checking this site on a regular basis in the hope of getting more replies. With renewed thanks and best wishes.

Mike

[stuartmclean]

Mike,

In my efforts to track down my grandfather (Thomas Wright McLean) it might be of use to you to know that he was stationed in Winchelsea (East Sussex) during WWII.

As far as I know he was a member of the Royal Regiment of Canada (Infantry Corps), 2nd Canadian Division. He served as a medico and fought in the Dieppe raid in 1942, for which he received the military medal. I think he was in the 55th battalion.

I believe, from what my grandmother tells me, that he was also staioned at Eastbourne and Lewes during this time.

If you have any information that might help me with my search it would be gratefully appreciated.

regards
Stuart

[Michael Ockenden]

Hello Stuart

Thanks for responding to my post.

I know that the R R of C formed part of the 4th Canadian Infantry Brigade, together with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and the Essex Scottish Regiment.

My records do not show the R R of C as being stationed in Eastbourne for lengthy periods, but according to correspondence I had with a veteran some years ago, they were in the town from 4 March 42 – 19 Apr 42. As far as I can make out from his description, A Coy at least was billeted in the Landsdowne Hotel on King Edward’s Parade, which is part of the seafront. The hotel overlooks the Channel - over the horizon lies Dieppe. The official history, ‘Battle Royal’ gives scant information.

From the comfort of the hotel, they went to a tented camp at Hellingly, which is about 10 miles north of Eastbourne and near the small market town of Hailsham. They left for Dieppe from this camp, but I don’t know what happened to them after the raid.

A Canadian Army Location Statement dated 1 May 1942 shows them at ‘Parkwood’, which must be near Hellingly. Unusually no map reference is given although there is a telephone number – Horam Road 21/2.

In the history of Rodean School (at Rottingdean, near Brighton) there is also mention of the regiment. This states that the First Battalion was at this large girls’ school (all the girls had been evacuated!) from 29/12/40 – 20/1/41. The CO was Lt.-Col. G H Basher.

I suppose you are in Canada and if you can get to Ottawa, you should consult the Regiment’s War Diaries. At the time of my last correspondence, the Regiment’s museum was in Toronto.

Hope the above is of some help.

Kind regards

Mike

[stuartmclean]

Thanks Mike.

I actually grew up in Pett, my grandmother still lives in Pett Level. i have been trying to source a copy of Battle Royal because I believe my grandfather is listed in it.

Not much chance of me getting to Canada any time soon, so I guess I'll have to pursue whatever leads I have over here.

thanks again,
Stuart.

[Norm Cromie (RIP)]

Hi Mike:
I am 82 years old and my memory is failing but, in the spring of 1942 a comando unit was formed to take out the German radio towers north of Dieppe. I believe there were elements of the first Canadian Brigade. I was one of two men, along with a Major Armstrong from the 48th as a headquarters part of this unit. We were stationed at Seaford up on a hill in a little English cottage. We did river crossings in a small creek or riverbed, I can't remember, and did house to house clearing exercises in Eastbourne. We were stationed under canvas and were called back to our units before the raid on Dieppe went forward. If you want more information please e-mail me and remember my age and my memory. My serial number was B 73323.

Norm

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Very pleased to have you with us, memory or no memory. Norm, none of us would be here, doing this, if it weren't for men like you.

Please feel free to chat about anything you wish, on any subject, and if we can answer any questions or assist you in any way, please don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks again,

Geoff

[Michael Ockenden]

Hello Norm

Thanks for responding to my query. I will also e-mail you, but for the benefit of others on the forum, my thoughts about what you say are as follows:-

First of all Seaford – my guess is that you were in a part of town known as ‘Blatchington’. This is to the east of Seaford town centre, towards the River Cuckmere. I believe this was where you trained to do river crossings. At low tide there are mud flats on both banks, but it never dries up. It’s just possible the training was done on the Ouse, but this is a bigger river and flows into the sea at Newhaven. As you must know, the latter is the cross Channel ferry terminal for Dieppe. I wonder whether you sailed from there.

There’s a restaurant/pub called the ‘Golden Galleon’ down near the Cuckmere bridge at a place called Exeat. However, there’s no village at Exeat anymore – all the inhabitants died during the Black Death. Further upstream, there’s a village called Alfriston – near here there’s an establishment called ‘Drusillas’. Pre-war, this was a small restaurant and tea-room, and I believe Canadians were stationed around there. Today it’s a large private zoo. You may wish to get a book called ‘Operation Cuckmere Haven’ – Military aspects of the Cuckmere Valley. The ISBN is 0-9521297-1-X.

Now to Eastbourne – the houses where you trained in street fighting would have been in the Bourne Street area. This part of town was badly bombed during the ‘tip and run’ raids by Fw190 fighter-bombers – it was known locally as ‘Hell Fire Corner’. The houses were all abandoned and then used by the military. I’ve come across several vets (by no means all Canadian) who trained in and around these houses. They were mostly demolished after the war and mid-rise council flats erected.

Thanks again.

Mike

Further to my buddy Norm's reply I am posting an extract from page 184 of Dileas which covers the spring of 1943:

"THE days moved a little more rapidly while they awaited another
English spring, no doubt because of their constant change of
environment: they left Horam and Little London, and spent periods
at Lewes, Portslade, Brighton, Shoreham and Seaford. They returned
once to Horam, but soon were returning regularly to Stone Cross,
4 miles northeast of Eastbourne, which was as close to a permanent
home as the 48th Highlanders had that late winter and spring. Part
of their shuffling from position to position was because they were
warders of the Channel Coast while the bulk of the Canadian troops
in England were off on famous Exercise Spartan, or in Scotland. It
was strongly suspected that another reason was to keep them well
tired out-and out of trouble.
Stone Cross proved a much happier home than Horrible Horam.
They were on the edge of Eastbourne, which was a help in itself, and
if they were again well scattered there were many compensations.
B Company, for instance, discovered the Pevensey Bay was one of
the best-stocked pubs in all England. Train service was almost as
convenient as at Kingswood; there was a direct rail-line to permit a"

[Michael Ockenden]

Thanks for your helpful post.

But one thing - is 48th Highlanders the full name of the regiment?

Most of my notes are in England (I'm currently in France) and I can't easily check the above.

I know there were French Canadian units in and around Stone Cross + Pevensey, probably Maisonneuve and/or 'Vandouze'.

ATB

Mike

48th Highlanders of Canada

[Michael Ockenden]

OK and VMT.

Mike

[Norm Cromie (RIP)]

Hi Mike:
Thank you for your reply. I think it is great that you are doing research on a geat part of World History. First let me say something I have wanted to say for many years. I arrived in England in 1939 at the age of 18. Having never been more than 80 miles from the city of Toronto in my lifetime, and saw the British people during the blitz, their cool resolve in cue lines, sleeping in the subways, going to hard rationing, has always left me with nothing but great admiration for these wonderful folk during the most trying time of their lives. Little did Hitler and his thugs realize what a mountain of resolve they were up against.
Mike, regarding Eastbourne, I have searched many books looking for information on this special unit that was sent to Seaford pre the Dieppe raid. The Major Armstrong that I mentioned has a son who is a writer on early Canadian history. He has done quite a lot of research on his dad. He would probably have more research on the units that were involved around Eastbourne. I do know that we were trained by instructors (I believe were from the 12th commando regiment) Some of the units that I remember were the PPCLI's and the Van Doos Royal 22nd Regiment. I remember a searchlight that had arch lamp that you had to crank to get the light source that was in front of the cottage. I do remember the small creek, and the reason why, a sargent and I decided to go into town one afternoon and you had to jump acrossed the creek, unfortunately he was a little heavier than I was and his jump failed to meet the other bank by about two feet. One awful muddy uniform. If you happen to find out anything more regarding this unit I would appreciate it. We were called back to our unit because Canadian High Command only wanted to commit one division which was the second.

[Michael Ockenden]

Thanks for the information, Norm.

I'm now less sure about the location of your billet. The Cuckmere is a small river but even at low tide, it's hard to think that someone could expect to leap across. Perhaps you were further upstream. The bridge at Exeat would have been guarded and perhaps made ready for detonation ... but it's on such an important route, I can hardly think it would have been removed altogether.

Do remember if your destination on that day was Seaford? If so, your billet would have been on the easterly bank.

I'll get in touch by e-mail.

Regards

Mike

[heywyre]

My father joined in 1939 with the Van Doos (Royal 22nd) out of Montreal. He came home with the Black Watch 6 years later (after having got through 3 other regiments - Victoria Rifles, West Nova Scotias and 9th Field Ambulance)

I know he spent a fair amount of time in England - almost got married there I've heard

Judy

[Michael Ockenden]

Judy:

I don’t think the Van Doos were ever in the town of Eastbourne.

The Black Watch (RHR or RHC) were here from 3 July 41 to 12 Aug 41 and again from 9 Oct 41 to early 42.

The 9th Field Ambulance were here on the night of 11/12 August 42 and 8 men of their men were killed when a shelter near Princess Alice Hospital received a direct hit.

It would be interesting to know more about your father’s service record. Perhaps you can trace this and let us know.

Mike

[heywyre]

Thanks for the info

I don't think he would have been with the Black Watch that early because he came home with them in 1945

However, it might be around the time he was with the 9th Field Ambulance because - although my father NEVER told anyone about this, apparently he told his brother and my cousin relayed the story to me after my father passed away. He could hear something heavy coming in and took cover under a truck. They were heavily hit and shrapnel went flying everywhere. A large piece of a bomb just missed my father. He looked at it afterwards and it had a serial number on it that almost matched my father's number - it was almost like it was earmarked for him.

It's stories like these that I am sorry he didn't share more often but I can totally understand him wanting to just forget about it.

I am in the process of applying for my father's records from the DND - how long that will take is beyond me. I am also trying to find out if I can get his medical records from Veteran's Affairs as he spent a fair amount of time in and out of hospital after the war.

Judy

[John McGillivray]

My daughter borrowed a copy of “A History of 2 CDN HAA REGT 1939 – 1945”, which was published in Soesterberg, Holland (Aug. 1945), from the McGill University library. It states that the 11th Bty of 2 HAA Regt was in Eastbourne during the spring and summer of 1943.

“In the meantime, and even before “Gallop’, it had been decided to deploy the whole of 1 Cdn AA Bde on the south coast. 8 Bty maintained C Tp and BHQ at Black Rock, but during January D Tp moved to Rottingdean and began construction of a site on Telescombe Cliff, at Peacehaven. Towards the end of May, all quarters in Addington were vacated; RHQ and Workshops moved to Hove; Army Service Corps to Saltdean; 1 Bty BHQ moved to Bishopstone, near Seaford, with A Tp taking over a partly constructed site at Hove Grammar School, and B Tp building a new site on top of the hill at Denton, overlooking Newhaven town and harbour. With the shuffling around caused by moves to Whitby, D Tp took over the Grammar School, thus putting both 8 Bty sites under GOR Brighton, and A Tp went to Telescombe, bringing 1 Bty completely under GOR Seaford, a much more satisfactory arrangement. 11 Bty remained non-operational at Eastbourne.

“These deployments, under 5 AA Bde, were part of the general thickening-up of England’s south coast defences, in the face of increased enemy ‘tip and run’ raids. On Feb 10, C Tp engaged as unseen, with 8 rounds, a target which GL indicated as losing height; a Do 217 then broke out of the clouds and was destroyed by LAA fire, crashing inland above Saltdean. 8 Bty BHQ and C Tp were sprayed with cannon shells from FW 190s at 1109 hrs 29 March; the presence of Spitfires restricted fire. At noon May 25, Brighton and Hove suffered their heaviest raid of the war; C Tp fired 13 rds, and destroyed one FW 190 by gun control (Sgt F.L. Lappin); the MT section of C Tp worked into the following morning assisting in the demolition of shattered buildings – a job where the winch cable of an AEC came in very useful. Early in the morning of 5 Jun C Tp fired another 33 rounds, results unknown. 11 Bty, at Eastbourne, were in an area long popular with the GAF – one detachment, working to clear debris and rescue the victim of one raid, who swore loudly during his excavation, sweated and toiled upwards of an hour only to find that the victim was a parrot.

“At the end of the summer, 11 Bty had a hectic fortnight of hard work. On Aug 23, E and F Tps deployed in the Burgess Hill area, and on 2 Sep these two troops were moved again, this time to sites known a H. 28 and H. 30, between Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath.”

[Michael Ockenden]

17 March 2003

Thank you, Judy + John for the helpful posts.

I hope, Judy, that you will be able to find out more about your father’s service and look forward to hearing from you again. The casualties suffered by 9 Field Ambulance were the most severe of any unit in the town throughout the war.

John: the information about HAA is interesting because I didn’t know there were Canadian HAA units in the area, although I had heard that Newhaven was defended by HAA. There were no operational HAA batteries in Eastbourne until 1944, when some were moved from London to combat the V-1s.

The extract from the history about 11 Battery will enable me to investigate further; I wonder if they were rotated with the crews in the other locations.

Renewed thanks.

Mike

[heywyre]

Oh, I totally intend to get more information about my father, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately, I am having some difficulty getting my brother, who is in Montreal, to cooperate with me. He has my father's death certificate and I have asked him several times for a copy of it so I can proceed but I have yet to get it. What the hold up is, who's to know.

I am afraid I am going to have to apply for a new one - albeit a hassle and an expense that is uncalled for so that might take some time, being that is also in Montreal.

Siblings grrrrrrr!! Sometimes I wonder who needs them !

[Rusty6]

I've been reading this thread with some interest. My Dad spent some time along various parts of the South coast of England during WW II before departing for Normandy. He was a gunner in the 18th anti-tank battery of the 2nd Canadian division. I'm lucky to have a few photos of his military experiences. One is taken near Hirstmonceaux, Sussex in front of the "Tollgate Inn". A link to it will show the group including my Dad. The others are all unknown to me.The War Years

[Michael Ockenden]

Thanks, Rusty, for the link to the pic outside the inn.

Don't know whether you are aware, but Hurstmonceux Castle (formerly the Royal Greenwich Observatory) now belongs to some kind of Canadian educational trust - perhaps a university.

I'm not sure whether the Tollgate Inn is still in the village but I'll try to find out.

Sorry for the delay but have not checked the forum for a while.

Kind regards from southern Germany,

Mike

[Rusty6]

Mike, just an update on the Tollgate Inn picture. Through a U.K. contact I have been able to track down the actual Tollgate Inn and get some up to date photos. The inn is in fact located at Bramber, Sussex. Still looks much the same. Unfortunately I can no longer update my website to correct the error.

[chris vowles]

Mike

Have you tried http://www.dnd.ca/hr/dhh/history_arc...me_e.asp?cat=1
its reports from the Canadian Military HQ, 1939-1948. Clik on public and Online.

Most of the reports you can down load, just be warned some are
300-400 pages long. But they do say where the regiments were at a given time. New reports are being released every week.

Good luck

Chris

[Michael Ockenden]

Thanks for drawing my attention to the CMHQ reports.

I had seen them before, but quite a lot has since been added. They are a very useful source of information.

All the best from France,

Mike

[John McGillivray]

In late 1940 and early 1941 the Royal Montreal Regiment (M.G.) was billeted in Sutton. While there, it supplied Companies for coast defence in Eastbourne. The following is from the unit history “The Royal Montreal Regiment 1925 – 1945” by R. C. Fetherstonhaugh:

“In the final week of November, "B" Coy. left Sutton to serve for a time with the British XII Corps on the coast at Eastbourne, while the main body of the Battalion carried out a number of extensive manoeuvres. At a conference on the night of November 26, officers and non-commissioned officers discussed a manoeuvre which had tested a relief plan on the River Mole.” (p60)

“When "D" Coy. proceeded to Hastings [on Dec. 7th], "B" Coy. returned from the coast to Sutton; and when "D" Coy. came back on December 21, "C" Coy. proceeded to Eastbourne. Four days after this move, on Christmas, 1940, the 7th Corps of the British Army ceased to exist as such, and the Canadian Corps, under Lieut.-Gen. A. G. L. McNaughton came into official existence.” (p62)

“On January 4, "A" Coy. relieved "C" Coy. on coast defence duty at Eastbourne, where the company's positions were inspected by Lieut.-Col. Whitehead, Lieut. A. E. Weir, and Lieut. J. A. Roncarelli on January 6.” (p63)

The Royal Montreal Regiment (M.G.) left Sutton and moved to Brighton on January 21, 1941.

[Michael Ockenden]

VMT for the comprehensive reply to my posting.

The information about the RMR (MG) is interesting. I had already looked through their War Diary for the period in question and seen that they were in Epson and Sutton but nothing about Eastbourne.

Is it possible that separate WD entries would have been made for this detachment, and that these are perhaps held with files relating to the British XII Corps? This would seem unlikely, but what do you think?

Renewed thanks and best wishes.

Mike

[John McGillivray]

The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada were in Eastbourne from the 9th of August, 1942 until the 14th of February, 1943.

Source “The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada 1919/1965” by R.H. Roy


(p128-131) “A few days after Lt-Col. Tait left, the Seaforths were advised that the 1st Canadian Infantry Division would be moving shortly to take over the positions formerly held by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division in the Eastbourne sector. The move would be completed by 9 August, and for the battalion it meant occupying positions on the northern outskirts of Eastbourne, with "C" Company occupying Pevensey Castle. This castle was a famous historic landmark. The outer walls were built by the Romans and one of the fiercest battles fought there was when Aella and the South Saxons swarmed over its battlements in 491 A.D. and slaughtered all its inhabitants.31 About 500 years later William the Conqueror landed about a mile away. Ultimately he granted the fort to his half-brother who built a Norman castle inside the walls, subsequently reconstructed by King Edward I. Pevensey was only one of several historic sites in the Eastbourne area, but sprinkled among the castles and towers were several naval, military and air force installations which were performing the same but modern task of the old castle walls —that is, defending the South Coast.

“The Seaforths' duties in the new area were legion. They had to look after beachlights, spigot mortars, gasoline and oil dumps for creating in the sea a wall of flame in case of invasion, "roller-skating" anti-tank charges, Forgasse barrels hidden in road cuts, as well as to man observation posts and mount anti-aircraft machine-gun posts. In addition, the Pevensey Radar Station came within their charge, and should the enemy attempt any "commando" raids or airborne landings along the Eastbourne sector of the coast, the Seaforths would be involved immediately. Standing patrols of company strength were on the alert constantly, and elaborate precautions were taken within the Brigade Group to alert the Home Guard, coastal batteries and a variety of other units who shared the constant watch along the coast.

“The South Coast of England at this time was being hit fairly constantly by German "tip and run" raids. One or more aircraft would come whipping over the Channel at almost wavetop level to escape the British radar detection. Swooping in over the coast, they would strike at oil tanks, railway stations, barracks, troops or anything else which caught their eye after they had shot up or bombed their major target. On 4 August, when the Seaforths were still in the Brighton area, a Focke-Wolfe 190 had come over and machine-gunned the streets of the city. Some thirty machine-guns in the brigade had shot his tail off as he headed back for France. When the unit marched along the Downs on 8-9 August to Eastbourne,32 special precautions were taken by all the unit's Bren gunners to have half of their weapons at the alert along the line of march. The Seaforths had hardly settled in when more German planes flew in and bombed the area. The raid on Eastbourne on the night of 10-11 August was a particularly colourful affair which did considerable damage to the vehicles of the Edmonton Regiment and killed nine men from No. 9 Field Ambulance. This raid almost hit the unit's Pipe Band. It had returned from an engagement and had only just left the Eastbourne railway station when the station was demolished by incendiary bombs.

“These raids resulted in more stringent orders being issued regarding the digging of slit trenches, gathering more sand and water pails for use in the various billets, and especially manning additional anti-aircraft posts. The air force installations seemed especially attractive targets, but the city's gas and electric works drew enemy fire almost as frequently.33

“The Seaforths' opportunity came early on 26 August, early in the morning. At Battalion Headquarters Major Forin was dealing with a couple of defaulters. Over at Crumbles Range Lt. D. H. Strain was with "D" Company getting things lined up for rifle practice. Cpl. R. E. Bosley was near the transport shed close to St. Anthony's Hall, while in their billets Cpl. R. H. Brammer and Pte. F. Moore were painting Bren gun magazines. In brief, training was going on "as per syllabus" on the 26th when two German Focke-Wolfe 190's came skimming across the Channel at about 0900 hours. They were spotted by Pte. E. G. Johnstone who manned an anti-aircraft post on top of a factory. As they flew low over Eastbourne and close to his position, he emptied several magazines into the planes and could see them hitting home. At about the same moment Pte. F. L. Wood in another post fired at them as they came abreast the gas and electrical works, and he too, at a range of about 300 to 400 yards, could see his shots strike home. The planes both dropped bombs, but one, at this point, zoomed directly up in the air, flipped over and crashed just east of the gas plant. Meanwhile Sgt. N. C. Forsbeck and Cpl. Brammer, also members of the antiaircraft platoon, had raced outside their billets with Bren guns ready and loaded and were in time to blast away at the remaining aircraft. Cpl. Bosley, P. S. M. Metcalfe, Sgt, Buchanan, Cpl. Campbell, Lt. Strain and others who were in a position to see the rounds striking the plane all over its fuselage found themselves cheering madly at the Bren gunners' performance, and even though the second machine managed to circle back and head eastward over the Channel, the general opinion, spiced with hope, was that the pilot couldn't make it. Even if he did his plane, from all eye-witness accounts, must have been well and truly shot up. Meanwhile the downed plane was the object of souvenir hunters, and the swastikas on each wing soon became the prized possessions of the Seaforths.

“There was particular pleasure in shooting down one German plane and having grounds for considering another one a "probable", for exactly a week previously the Canadian forces had raided Dieppe. The Seaforths had seen the hundreds of planes shuttling back and forth overhead and, all during 19th August, those not on duty had listened for news over the B.B.C. and had bought up every newspaper they could lay their hands on. Many had hurriedly been sent on special anti-aircraft duties to guard against any German aircraft attempting to strike at the ships bringing back the 2nd Division's troops returning to the coast. The Medical Officer and his section had stood by in case any of the landing craft carrying wounded men put in near Eastbourne. It was an exciting day, one which sent spirits soaring. Later, however, when word of the losses suffered by the Canadians was released the mood changed, especially when it was known that Lt-Col. C. C. I. Merritt, formerly a Seaforth company commander, was reported lost while leading his battalion, the South Saskatchewan Regiment, in battle. It was not until several weeks later that Merritt was reported a prisoner of war, and everyone in the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada was doubly pleased when it was announced he had been awarded the Victoria Cross.

“In a sense, therefore, the two planes shot up by the Seaforths a week after the event did release some of the frustration which many felt as the warm summer of 1942 came to a close. Nevertheless, the battalion would not have to wait much longer. Dieppe did teach some lessons—or, more properly, it brought home some old ones. These were to be taken to heart when the next major assault would be made on Hitler's "Festung Europa", and the Seaforths were to be in the fore of that assault.”

31 The Seaforths, using grappling irons, used to climb up the high inner walls as part of their battle drill training.

32 Incidentally camping overnight on the same site occupied for a while by the 72nd Bn., C.E.F. before it went to France.

33 A humourous incident occurred on 14 August when two enemy planes came over at noon to bomb the radar station. Having dropped their bombs they circled low over "C" Company when the troops were queued up for lunch. "The troops," wrote the war diarist, "could think of nothing more offensive to do than to wave their mess-tins at them. One of the pilots waved back. . . ." (W.D., Seaforths Highlanders of Canada, 14 August 1942.) During their stay at Eastbourne the battalion was billetted in houses for the most part.

(p137)” The great majority of these changes, which took place over an eight-month period, occurred after Hoffmeister took command, but at the time he arrived the Seaforths were still in the Pevensey-Eastbourne area and were getting somewhat fed up with routine training. Battle-drill kept the men in trim, and learning street or house-to-house fighting among the blitzed houses of Eastbourne was something of a fillip. The laying and lifting of mine fields, scaling cliffs or the walls of Pevensey Castle, platoon and company night exercises, and the usual mixture of schemes with and without tanks kept Seaforths of all ranks occupied and alert, but what might be termed the post-Dieppe restlessness was hard to shake off. Three years was a long time to wait, and although the Seaforths were by no means a blood-thirsty lot, the feeling of being out of it was wide-spread. During the Summer and Fall German forces had been pushing east….”

[John McGillivray]

From the period of 14th February to the 4th of March the Seaforths were in Scotland conducting combined operations training. They then returned to Eastbourne for a short stay.

(p142-143) “ It was good to be back at Pevensey. There was a tinge of frost on the Downs, but clear, sharp days began to give way to warm, sunny weather as March slipped by. There was, as usual, plenty to do. Seven day furloughs started again, but before going on leave there was a terrific rush on the Quartermaster stores to replace boots, which had given out during the rough treatment they had had in the salt water and hills around Inveraray. Eastbourne, as usual, was bearing up patiently under almost daily air raids, and on more than one occasion Seaforths were able to lend a hand clearing the rubble from bombed homes even before the All Clear had gone. Rumours of a move were in the air too, for with the 3rd Canadian Brigade taking Combined Operations training at Inveraray, a shift in coastal defence responsibilities could be expected. In mid-March the Seaforths were shifted a few miles to the south and west to the Willingdon - Hampden Park area where they found the billets far more compact and comfortable. In fact for the first time since they left the East Delville Barracks, all companies were within a mile of each other. The new coastal area which the unit patrolled stretched between Beachy Head and Birling Gap, a lovely high part of the South Coast which, combined with the warm, sunny days made duty along the coast and cliffs almost a pleasure.

“A month after settling into the Willingdon area the Seaforths moved again, this time further west to the Seaford - East Blatchington area south of Lewes. Since it was only ten miles from their previous location, the move was made on foot. As far as that goes, if it had been two and three times as distant, the men would still have been marched, for there is nothing the army relished more than to see men march—preferably in battle order. Be that as it may, the Seaforths were hardened to it, and a ten mile walk along the coast roads was a pleasant outing, and with two pipers and drummers marching with each company, the dozen miles went by quickly and pleasantly.”